Divergent Thinking and the Fantastically Flexible Human Mind

Divergent Thinkingand the

Fantastically Flexible

Human Mind

We’ve all heard of creativity...

But what is it?

For the sake of this presentation, we’ll define it as:

The ability to produce

ideas that can be used

in a novel way.

Novel: new or unusual in an interesting way

Great! Glad we got that settled.

Except, one problem...

It’s really hard to be truly original in our ideas.

Look at my totally original creation!

Wait… that looks like mine!

Well this is awkward...

So, let’s start over.How do we invent something useful if everything has already been done?

We can’t always find a new way to do things, but our brains are flexible enough to think up the uncommon.

Divergent Thinking

is the process of contemplating multiple avenues of thought.

Consider this scenario:

How many uses can you think up for a rubber band?

The more unconventional ways you can think up, the higher your level of

divergent thinking.

Chances are, you won’t think of any uses that no one has ever thought of before.

But you will think of uses that aren’t obvious to others.

And that, my friends, is how we produce great things.

When did you last show off your flexible brain?For more information on divergent thinking

and learning processes that align with the

Delphian model, check out this awesome video

of Sir Ken Robinson’s TED Talk on Changing Education Paradigms.

CONTACT US 800.626.6610503.843.3521summer@delphian.org